Krishna Kishore Singh Vs Sarla A Saraogi & Ors
Forum- Delhi High Court
Date-10th June, 2021

Sub-Film on Sushant Singh Rajpur- Right to privacy Vs Right of free speech and expression. Whether the right to privacy of a celebrity extinguishes upon his demise.

The Delhi high court in this case was examining the right to privacy of Sushant’s family to prevent the defendants from publishing film on Sushant’s life when the other side contended that the right to privacy of a celebrity extinguishes upon his demise. The defendants argued that the film simply draws inspiration from the Sushant’s death and does not in any manner uses his name, image, caricature, photographs etc of either Sushant or his family.

The court finally examined the celebrity rights as well as right to succession u/s 306 of the Indian Succession Act, 1925 and being influenced interalia by the fact that even though the material regarding the production of the film was in public domain since august 2020 the plaintiff has taken up the case only at the fag end when the film is about to release. Finally on the basis of Supreme Court cases of R Rajagopal held that the right to privacy is implicit in the right to life and liberty guaranteed to the citizens of this country by Article 21. It is a “right to be let alone”.

However publication of any material becomes unobjectionable once the matter becomes a public record except in case of a female who is victim of sexual assault, assault or kidnap. Thus the application for injunction was dismissed. The court was also guided by several infirmities in the application.

This judgement deals with the right to privacy, celebrity rights and other rights in case of a person who has died. The family is pained by commercial exploitation of Sushant’s death in this film.


Ramesh Patodia
13-06-2021